Alpharius

Alpharius Omegon[1] (also known as the Last Primarch or the Lord of Serpents[8]) was one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor in the earliest days of the Imperium, just after the end of the Age of Strife. Like the other Primarchs, he was sucked from Terra by the Gods of Chaos and placed on a far-away world in an attempt to prevent the coming of the Age of the Imperium. In truth Alpharius Omegon are twins known as Alpharius and Omegon respectively, though they describe themselves as one soul in two bodies.[1]

Alpharius Omegon is an enigmatic figure within the history of the Legiones Astartes. No definitive record of his appearance and activities exist. There are claims that Alpha Legion Marines assumed his name and identity during wars and even council meetings with other Legions and Imperial officials, that Alpharius was somehow able to duplicate himself, and that he had a twin. Reports of his physical appearance seem to widely differ.[4]

Contents

Secrets and Lies

It should be noted that the Alpha Legion's trademark secrecy extends to records of their Primarch. Little recorded information on his background exists, and almost all of what is currently known by the Imperium comes from the information provided by Inquisitor Kravin of the Ordo Malleus. Inquisitor Kravin was subsequently believed to have been tainted by the Alpha Legion and his current whereabouts are unknown. Hence, much of the Imperial data concerning the Primarch could be considered suspect, and indeed there are some who believe the whole Kravin affair was an Alpha Legion plot to plant misinformation in the Imperial records.[2]

Alpharius wore at least four sets of Armour before the Heresy, which he discarded when they showed signs to identify him[3]. Alpharius himself was the smallest of the Primarchs, but his lieutenants were larger than normal Space Marines. This allowed them to often switch places and assume each others' identities.[10a] To disguise Alpharius Omegon further members of the Alpha Legion would drink a substance mixed with the Primarch's blood that seems to temporarily turn them into him. The disguise is so convincing that even the Legion's own Apothecaries are fooled by it, and those who undertake the process are even given some of their Primarch's memories.[5]

Another more bizarre method of disguising himself further saw Alpharius use his Librarians to apparently switch bodies with members of his Legion, as was the case with Kel Silonius.[10b]

Omegon

The greatest secret about the Alpha Legion Primarch is apparently told to none outside the Legion as unlike any of the other Primarchs, Alpharius has an identical twin: Omegon. It is unknown if the Emperor designed this, or was ever even aware of it. Alpharius and Omegon are both the Primarch of the Legion, although 'Alpharius' is the public face and appears as the more senior of the two. Though as both are identical it is possible for them to switch roles and have 'Omegon' play the public role. At least once 'Omegon' appared before the small court of Horus instead of Alpharius, that had appared the last time to the court[3]. They have been described as "one soul in two bodies" and collectively have been referred to as simply "Alpharius Omegon"[Needs Citation].

While the Astartes of the Alpha Legion, once at least, made an attempt to all look alike, both Alpharius and Omegon were still somewhat distinctive. Taller than the rest of the Legion, slightly copper-skinned, bald and possessed of a heavy brow, they somewhat resembled their brother, Horus. Unlike him, Alpharius and Omegon had piercing eyes that seemed to glitter, appearing to shift colour from a cold arctic blue to a shimmering green. The overall impression was one of nobility and intelligence. One way to tell the two apart was when Omegon was performing as commander of Effrit Stealth Squad; large portions of his power armour and gear were painted black and otherwise darkened. The armour worn by Alpharius was not particularly different from that of an ordinary Alpha Legionnaire.[1]

Despite their close bond and describing themselves as two halves of the same soul, Omegon's loyalties may not lie with his brothers (or vice-versa). During the Horus Heresy Omegon took suspicious steps against his brother. This included sending troops on a suicide mission to destroy a Pylon array preventing the White Scars learning about Horus' betrayal without his brothers apparent knowledge.[5] Afterwards, an Alpha Legion fleet that may have been under Omegon's command did not follow Horus' orders to join with the White Scars, but instead seemingly provoked them into hostilities after blockading them long enough for Jaghatai Khan to receive a message from Rogal Dorn warning of Horus' treachery. As the Alpha Legion are known for schemes within schemes, the true nature of these acts may never be known.[5] However, Alpharius and Omegon may not see completely eye to eye as the former is more accepting of civilian deaths than the latter.[9]

History

Pre-Heresy

Typical of the Alpha Legion's own nature, conflicting tales of how Alpharius was rediscovered by the Imperium exist. Many of the tales have been proven lies, while many more still remain unproven or unknown.[4]

What is known is that Alpharius was the last of the lost sons of the Emperor to be found, some scant decades before the end of the Great Crusade. While most other Primarchs, aside from Rogal Dorn, were found on the worlds they had been cast upon, Alpharius apparently came upon Horus' Fleet in an unnamed system[Needs Citation].

Using a ragtag fleet of primitive one and two-man fighters he cleverly put the advance ship of the Luna Wolves' fleet in a precarious position, which necessitated the intervention of Horus himself. Arriving on his endangered cruiser, he soon learned that a small team of boarders was making its way towards the bridge. The cruiser was at high alert as the five boarders burst onto the bridge. Quickly four of them were dispatched by Bolt Pistol shots from Horus. The fifth one, who towered even over the Luna Wolves' marines dodged Horus' fifth shot, and continued to advance regardless of the gunfire. At the last instant, Alpharius stopped his assault, as both he and Horus realised the situation. Horus laughed, for he had found his last brother[Needs Citation].

It is said that instead of immediately sending him to Terra to meet the Emperor, Horus kept Alpharius with him for some months. The two formed a strong bond, with Alpharius and his ragtag alliance quickly embracing the Imperium. Both brothers were greatly impressed with each other, although Alpharius refused to reveal his homeworld, denying that each world in the system that the brothers brought into compliance was his point of origin. Eventually, Alpharius had to journey to meet his father, the Emperor. Their meeting was, as were all times when the Emperor found one of his lost sons, surrounded with much celebration. However, since the Great Crusade was in full swing, little time was spent in idle rejoicing and Alpharius was quickly given command of the XX Legion, created just a few decades before. Renamed the Alpha Legion, they followed their Primarch on Crusade[Needs Citation].

Alpharius quickly developed a unique approach to Astartes operations, focusing on the philosophies of initiative and flexibility, as well as extensive use of subterfuge and non-Astartes specialist operatives. This multitudinous, almost unstructured approach rankled Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, leading him to question Alpharius' approach to fighting. A violent discussion erupted between the two which was closed when Guilliman pointed to his own Legion's record, something that Alpharius could never hope to achieve, since his Alpha Legion was almost two hundred years younger than the Ultramarines.[2] They parted company acrimoniously, Alpharius believing Guilliman hated him. He resolved to ignore the Ultramarine Primarch from then on.[1] Alpharius' methods were further critiqued by Rogal Dorn during the World Prince Campaign.[10a]

However, the criticisms stuck; Alpharius began to push his Legion even further. More and more were the situations where he would take the more difficult course of action to force his Space Marines to grow. Plans were more complex, more subtle, while at the same time relying on more and more factors to achieve victory. Training was more intense and new strategies and approaches were constantly developed, as Alpharius sought to prove the worth of both his Legion and his martial philosophy.[2]

The Heresy

It has long been supposed that since Alpharius was only familiar with one other Primarch, Horus, it was self-explanatory why he chose the side he did at the outset of the Heresy. Indeed, the very plan at Isstvan V where Horus struck his first blow against his fellow Legions by destroying most of the Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Salamanders Legions in a massive ambush, was very reminiscent of plans that Alpharius had created in the past.[2] However, it is possible that there is another reason for Alpharius leading his Legion to the side of the traitors, a secret known only inside the Legion. Around two years before the beginning of the Heresy, Alpharius Omegon was apparently contacted by members of a Xenos organisation called the Cabal, who brought to him visions of the impending civil war within the Imperium, and expanded knowledge of the nature and designs of Chaos. It is believed that the Cabal convinced Alpharius that the only way to permanently defeat Chaos was to ensure that Horus was victorious. It is perhaps for this reason that Alpharius Omegon, secretly true to the Imperium and loyal to the Emperor, may have chosen to join the heretics.[1]

Further during the Heresy, the Cabal sought to lead Alpharius's and Omegon's actions in order to make Horus victory easier. One such action was the ordeal against the Raven Guard with the intent of preventing Corax from rebuilding his legion after the blow struck on Isstvan V. Some Alpha Legion marines were infiltrated, under the direction of Omegon, in the Raven Guard thanks to Alpha Legion apothecaries grafting the facial traits of some dead Raven Guards over the face of their own legionaries. Once known, through their infiltrators, that the original genome of the Primarchs was in the hands of Corax, Omegon acted in order to recover the secret knowledge so the Alpha Legion could be expanded in future times. With the help of renegade Mechanicum magos Unithrax, the Alpha Legion tainted the original genome recovered from the laboratories of The Emperor on Terra. This was accomplished introducing a virus-vectored mutagen based on daemonic blood making the successive Raven Guard implantation's result in operational but deeply-mutated Astartes exhibiting scales, horns, fangs, tails, overgrown muscles and similar features. Meanwhile, Omegon bound to his service, although not directly consistent of the fact, both a renegade Mechanicus faction and some representatives of the ancient and noble guilds of Kiavahr. He pushed them to open rebellion against the Raven Guard and, in the chaos resulting from the battle, he personally recovered all data stored in Corax laboratories as well as the tainted original genome. In the aftermath, Alpharius was obliged to give the obtained data to Horus who handed them to Fabius Bile for deeper research. What Bile did not know, was that the data were practically useless since incomplete at best. Of course, the Alpha Legion kept for itself the integral data as well as the corrupted genome. The Plan of Alpharius had always been to use the Data to raise the Alpha Legion over all other legions, loyalists and traitors. After this action, Omegon left the Cabal representative Athithirtir on board his ship into the void stating that the legion would fulfill its engagement on its own, without external interference or control.[3]

Later in the Heresy, Alpharius dispatched forces to attempt and block the White Scars from leaving the Chondax Campaign and joining loyalist forces. The White Scars were alerted to the Heresy after Omegon initiated a mission to destroy a jamming array. Despite a fierce battle with the White Scars, these ships may not have been armed, further compounding the true nature of Alpharius and/or Omegon.[6] Alpharius went on to corner the Space Wolves under Leman Russ himself, nearly destroying them and dueling Russ while disguised as one of his own Lernaean bodyguards. Victory seemed certain for Alpharius until he was forced to withdraw after the loyalists received Dark Angels reinforcements. [8]

Alpharius, or at least an Alpha Legion member claiming to be him, again appeared among a force of Shattered Legions resistance fighters. Assuming the mantle of Iron Hands leader Shadrak Meduson and garbing a unit of his own marines in Iron Hand battlegear, Alpharius' disguise was completely undetectable by the members of the Iron Hands legion he met. Travelling in a vessel that appeared to be the Iron Heart, Meduson's own flagship, Alpharius fell in with a separate unit of mixed Istvaan survivor marines under the command of Cadmus Tyro and convinced them, in his guise as Meduson, to aid him in an action against other members of the Alpha Legion. His deception was revealed towards the end of the affair, and the survivors of Tyro's force escaped with the knowledge that Alpharius had been impersonating Meduson.[11]

Death and Rebirth

In preparation to infiltrate the Sol System in the Solar War, Alpharius used his Librarians to seemingly switch bodies with his trusted HarrowmasterKel Silonius. To ensure secrecy, Alpharius also erased his own memories and took on Silonius' persona. As the real Silonius led a a fleet of 200 Alpha Legion warships into the Sol System, Alpharius led a Headhunter and human operative team in setting the stage for its arrival through acts of sabotage and preparation. During the final action, Alpharius' memories were restored by psychic trigger.[10c]

During the subsequent Battle of Pluto Alpharius confronted Rogal Dorn in a chamber locked inside of the Hydra Fortress Moon in Pluto's orbit. He killed Archamus's team hunting him but left Archamus mortally wounded and alive to watch as Dorn teleported into the chamber. Both Dorn's Huscarls and Alpharius's Lernaeans teleported in, and the primarchs slaughtered the other's warriors. The two battled, with Alpharius dealing Dorn many wounds, using his speed to stay out of reach. Throughout the fight, he tried to convince Dorn that he was there to teach him how to win, to expose his weaknesses, that he could not win the current war, and how there needed to be a new type of war. He also claimed that Dorn didn't understand what he was fighting for, and they both cared about the future. Only he knew the truth regarding the conflict, and he did not fight for Horus but for Dorn.[10c]

Eventually, he tried to kill Dorn with a blow from his Sarrisanata ("Pale Spear"), but Archamus was able to use the last of his strength to rush forward and deflect the blow, causing it to stab into Dorn's side. Dorn then grabbed the spear and sliced Alpharius's hands from his wrists before he slashed Alpharius across the chest, stabbed him with his own spear, and finished by cutting through Alpharius's skull with his mighty chainsword, Storm's Teeth.[10c]

Archamus soon passed away, but a team under his second Kestros found the primarch and the now deceased Archamus. Dorn then hid from the loyalists Alpharius's appearance within the system and his death, promoting Kestros and others with direct knowledge of the events to Huscarl to replace those who died. Dorn sought to deny Alpharius any acknowledgment or honor. Far away, Omegon sensed the death of his twin and he grew distant. Upon being notified that Horus demanded to speak with Alpharius, Omegon took up the name and became his twin brother.[10c]

Post-Heresy

During the Heresy, Alpharius (or after his apparent death on Pluto, Omegon) appeared more interested in proving his own Legion's worth by fighting, at every chance he got, the best of the Loyalist legions. Thus, even after Horus was cast down and the Heresy over, the Alpha Legion kept on fighting, moving more and more towards the galactic east, towards the Ultramarines. It was on the world known as Eskrador that Alpharius-Omegon and Roboute Guilliman would meet for the last time[Needs Citation].

Believing that Guilliman would adopt his standard Codex deployment procedures, Alpharius-Omegon was surprised by the Ultramarines, as a splinter force including their Primarch made a quick strike at the Alpha Legion's headquarters. Both Primarchs met in combat and Alpharius-Omegon was killed. Believing the combat over, for who could ever survive the loss of their Primarch in battle, the Ultramarines were taken by surprise by the remaining elements of the Alpha Legion, when they struck back a day later. After a week of constant fighting and heavy losses, the Ultramarines strike force managed to reunite with their main elements, and quickly evacuated the planet. Even though they had lost their Primarch, the Alpha Legion had soundly beaten the Ultramarines, who proceeded to bombard their foes' position from outer space. It should be noted, however, that Alpharius's death is still considered suspect even by the Ultramarines, and he may still be at large.[2] Alpharius' apparent earlier death during the Battle of Pluto during the Heresy complicates the mystery further, as it may have been Omegon who really died on Eskrador, if at all. On the other hand, it is possible that 'Alpharius' did indeed die and 'Omegon' took sole command of the Legion. It is also possible that it was 'Omegon' who was 'killed' by Guilliman after taking the place of 'Alpharius'. Whatever the truth, the Primarch of the Alpha Legion has not been seen since.[Needs Citation].

At some point after the Heresy, word reaches the High Lords of a Chaos Lord claiming to be Alpharius ravaging the moons of the Danevra Sub-sector. Debate rages about whether this could potentially be
the case, for the Primarch’s death has been recorded more than once across the span of Imperial history. Nonetheless, the Grand Master of Assassins dispatches a force of six Vindicare Assassins. Over a number of years they identify and slay a dozen Alpha Legion champions bearing the name of Alpharius, but the reports of raids upon the sub-sector’s mining operations only intensify. Five years later, the heads of all six Vindicare Assassins are found frozen in the food storage halls of the High Lords.[12]

Wargear

Typical of the Alpha Legion's nature, Alpharius and Omegon utilized completely non-standard and inconsistent wargear and the Primarch himself did not typically engage in open combat. He often preferred using Cameleoline-lined cloaks and armour that partially cloaked the wearer. However Alpharius and Omegon were observed utilizing reptilian-style Power Armour known as The Pythian Scales.[7] One of his stranger reported weapons was the Xenos artifact known as the Pale Spear. Alpharius Omegon was also seen with Power Swords and Plasma Guns in combat situations.[3]

Curiously, Omegon possesses a suit of grey power armour that he keeps hidden from even his brother Alpharius.[9]